Underlying Sadness?
by Moose Biscus
Summary: Bad summary. Tohru likes to write poetry, but everything she writes comes out sounding sad in some way. When she sleeps strange dreams frequently visit her. And where has her grandfather gone? Genre may change as will summary.


Disclaimer I don't own Fruits Basket... I don't even really own the computer I am typing on... the poem in this story however... is mine. So there. I do own something.

**Underlying Sadness?  
Chapter 1 **

Tohru sighed. She was sitting at the desk in her room sharpening her pencil in an old metal crank-style sharpener that she was given by her grandfather. When it was sharp enough she gently blew off the little bits of loose shaving on the exposed wood of the pencil and pulled a soft pastel green notebook towards her. She flipped about ten pages and began to write in beautifully neat handwriting:

Every day that goes by,  
The loneliness residing in my heart only grows,  
Will someone ever come and heal that pain,  
Cure the loneliness,  
Help me to be a kinder person,  
I can have all the friends in the world,  
But no matter how they try,  
Deep inside the loneliness will always remain...

She finished the poem and shut the book, pushing it away. She was not a really lonely person, and she did have her friends Uo and Hana. In truth she was blessed in so many ways. She had her mother who loved her although she died in a car crash a few months ago (She can't remember her father), her friends were deathly protective of her, and she had been taken in by her grandfather when no one else would. Yet all she wrote was sad in one way or another. It was like that for two years before her mother died and continued still. She had stopped showing her friends her work because although they loved her writing, they had started to worry about her possibly having a case of depression.

"Well I should go to bed now... it really is getting late..." She said to the emptiness that was her room. Her grandfather had long since gone to sleep. She cleared a few posters that she had meant to hang up off her bed and smoothed out the sheets before setting the alarm and turning out the light. 'Maybe if I wake up in time I can eat breakfast before I have to go to summer school...' She sat staring at the ceiling for a little while, waiting for her thoughts to lull her to sleep.

Tohru's Dreams

"Where am I? This place... so empty..."

Everywhere she turned all she could see was white. No definition between walls, ceiling, and floor. She started to run. "Maybe I can out run it..." She ran until she ran into a solid, also white, ledge. She looked over the ledge and was amazed at what she saw. There were grassy fields full of wildlife and flowers, and clear blue skies dotted sparingly with fluffy white clouds. She tried to climb over the ledge but she was just too short. She kept trying to no avail when someone came up behind her and lifted her up so that she could reach the ledge and climb over it. When she had gotten over it she turned to thank her helper and just when she was about to see who he was...

**BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEPPPP!**  
(Don't you hate it when that happens?)

End Dream

Tohru sat up in her bed, smacking her alarm to turn it off. She was shaking slightly. "What a weird dream... everything... everything was so.. so clear..." She shook it off as being meaningless and headed downstairs to fix herself a waffle. She liked waffles but usually didn't have time to make herself any. "At least I didn't over sleep this time," she said to herself smiling.

When her waffle was finished heating up, she carefully took it out of the toaster and dropped it onto a plate quickly. She poured some syrup over it and, grabbing a fork on the way, sat down at the kitchen table. She ate the waffle quietly looking around the still empty kitchen. "It is still hard to believe that I will never see my mother again and that I am now living here... It is even worse that I don't even remember my father.. he died when I was so young... and now to lose mom..." She cut off her thoughts and put her plate in the sink and quickly ran off to her summer school classes. Because no matter how well she could write poetry, her grades weren't exactly the greatest in the world you could say. Especially her French lessons. 'Stupid second languages... Why do I need to know French? It isn't like I plan on moving there! I am fine in Japan thank you very much!' she thought to herself as she ran up the steps of her school and into the French room for the first lesson of the day.

Classroom

The teacher walked into the room a quarter after seven, muttering to himself about traffic. He threw his bag down next to his desk and announced to them, "Ok everyone. Today you will be translating the definition that you couldn't translate on the final. So I hope that you have been studying!" Tohru moaned along with half of the class and slid down in her seat. She had been so busy helping out her grandfather that she hadn't studied at all. She would just have to do her best again. Although it would probably just end up like her final did. "Pen and papers ready? Ok then lets begin. It works just like on the final. I say the word in French and you write down what it means. First word. Solitaire...

10 minutes later

Everyone walked out of the class rather depressed, handing their papers to the teacher as they went. Tohru looked around and felt a little better because, judging by the way everyone looked, no one else did that well either. She walked down to the writing room to wait for Uo's class to end so that they could head down to Math together. She came out looking annoyed. "Dammit... Hana definitely lucked out this year. We had to write a story about 'Our Lives as a Pencil'. (I actually had to write something on that once don't laugh) I have never heard of a stupider topic. And now we have to go down and listen to the Hungry Hippo pretend to teach us Math while shoving pretzels into her mouth." Tohru laughed quietly while they opened the door to the classroom and got two seats next to each other in the back  
so that they could take notes throughout the whole lesson while more than likely making fun of the 'Hungry Hippo' at least once. Both Tohru and Uo walked out of the lesson not any smarter then they were before they went in but definitely in a better mood than when they went into the room.

They walked out of the school still in a good mood. "So Tohru do you have to work today? Maybe we could all hang out at the mall!" Tohru shook her head. "Nope no work today. I just got my check yesterday as well and since I worked overtime I have some spending cash after paying tuition and putting some in the bank." Uo shook her head. "Overtime? Tohru you can't overwork yourself like that! You know how you get! One day you are gonna really hurt yourself." Tohru just smiled. She was used to Uo's warnings. "So we can go to your house so that you can tell your grandfather and get your money. Then we'll have to drag Hana out of bed." Tohru nodded smiling brightly.

Grandfather's House

"Grandpa? Graaaanndpaaa?" Tohru called, getting no response. "Hmm he must be out. I will just leave a note for him." She quickly wrote where she was going on a post-it note and stuck it to the front of the refrigerator. She dug through the closet in her room and pulled out a small black handbag that her money was in and a thin fleece jacket since it tended to get cold in the evenings. She ran out the door to her waiting friend.

"I'm back Uo. There was no answer from grandpa so I guess he's out. I left a note. As long as I'm back in time for dinner I'm sure it will be fine." Uo nodded. "Well then lets go! Time to get Hana then the bus stops awaits!" she finished in a dramatic voice. Tohru giggled and skipped along as Uo ran. They got to Hana's house relatively quickly although out of breath. They knocked on her door several times before a half asleep Hana answered the door, dressed in solid black cotton pajamas. She didn't seem to recognize them at first but then she seemed to wake up some more. "Uo. Tohru. Rather  
early isn't it? Come on in and have a seat. I'll fix some tea."

About ten minutes later

Tohru, Uo, and Hana sat on the squashy couches in Hana's living room, drinking the tea Hana made for them. Hana was now fully dressed with her hair neatly braided behind her. "So what do you two want this early in the morning?" She asked, obviously still tired. Tohru smiled her usual smile; "We wanted you to go to the mall with us Hana-chan!" Uo nodded and grinned, "Yeah we haven't hung out all together in a long time! So get your money and let's go!" Hana smiled a small smile and grabbed her small messenger bag. They left Hana's house a little while later and were waiting at the bus stop talking and laughing.

At the mall

The group walked into the mall talking about where they would head first. "There are a lot of teenagers here today..." Hana commented, looking around at everyone crammed near the entrance. Tohru laughed, "That's good! Maybe some people we will know will be here today!" Uo sighed, "As long as it isn't the 'Prince Yuki Fan Club'.. If I hear that cheer one more time I really WILL beat them with that metal pipe." They all laughed at that. A few fan club impersonations and many laughs later, Tohru stopped at one of the stands that made personalized key chains. She turned to the other two. "Hey how about we each get one of the BFF key chains with all of our names on them? Look they have all different colors!" Uo and Hana grinned and nodded. They picked out their key chains and told the lady what the wanted. Up picked out a blue key chain, Tohru a pink one, and Hana a black one.

When their finished key chains were handed to them, Hana and Uo pulled out their money to pay for theirs, but Tohru stopped them and paid for all three herself. "Tohru..." Uo said in a warning tone, "You should be saving that money instead of wasting it on us." Tohru shook her head. "Those key chains are my present to you for always staying by me and helping me out." She said with a smile. Uo sniffed, obviously trying to hold back tears. "Don't worry about it kiddo." Hana agreed, "Yes we are your friends, we will always be there for you." Tohru sighed. 'I am so blessed...'

------

So a few notes about this; I meant for the first chapter to be longerand more eventful. Now it is mainly an introduction chapter. Which it is supposed to be anyway. So for that I apologize. But I really wanted to get it up... and the time came that I had the chance. This chapter took forever. I started it several months ago as an InuYasha Fan fiction... Then it was later changed to a Fruits Basket one. I am trying really hard to make this one come out good so I hope it is! Please please review and tell me what you think:)

--Rosey  
(Finished Aug. 28)


End file.
